As is generally known, cancer treatment can be complex and invasive. In some cases, patients need to be subjected to high-dose radiation treatment in order to eradicate and prevent additional cancerous tissue growth. In cases of head and neck cancer, cancerous tissue growth is typically located on the floor of the mouth, cheek lining, tonsils, pharynx, the tongue, and/or lymph nodes. When radiation treatment is applied in cases of head and neck cancer, some damage often occurs to non-cancerous tissues that lie in the pathway of the beam treating the cancer. For example, a patient's tongue may not be invaded by a cancer when the cancer is in the tonsils, but the tongue may be damaged by ionizing radiation that passes through the tongue in order to treat the tonsillar tumor. Thus, it would be advantageous if non-cancerous tissue could be spared radiation damage by altering the beam path, and/or by moving such non-cancerous tissue physically out of the way of the radiation beam.
The foregoing figures, being merely exemplary, contain various elements that may be present or omitted from actual apparatus that may be constructed, or used to practice the methods taught herein, and to manufacture the intra-oral devices as set forth herein. An attempt has been made to draw the figures in a way that illustrates at least those elements that are significant for an understanding of the devices taught herein, and for the alternate configurations thereof, and for the methods of use of the devices. However, various other elements for such intra-oral devices, for the methods of use thereof, may be utilized, within the teachings hereof and within the coverage of the claims set forth herein.